Many people suffer from a lost or damaged, and possibly infected toe or finger nail. In addition to pain, there is the nuisance of a very unappealing appearance for a relatively long time required for re-growth of a nail. In particular, women are thus hindered from wearing sandals or open-toe shoes. An attractive cosmetic cover that does not interfere with healing of the damaged or diseased nail would be a multifold solution to this problem, that is, cosmetic and medical.
The primary medical problem is toenail fungus, which affects about 10 percent of American adults. Fungus causes the nail to become thick, yellow, and fetid. This creates an unattractive finger or toe that embarrasses the person who has the affliction, which causes the person to hide the nail, such as in a closed shoe, even in the high temperatures of summer. Another problem affects both finger and toe nails, and that is an injury to the nail portion of a digit, for example an impact severe enough to cause a blood blister under the nail. Such injuries yield unsightly discoloration at the least, and often cause loss of the nail followed by many months before a new nail grows back.
Current remedies for nail fungus are rarely successful, and treatment often involves removal of a portion of the nail. Even when an available prescription works, it takes months for a new nail to grow out and replace the diseased nail. The patient is left with a nail that is ugly, discolored, and unappealing.
In the case of a nail infection, a bandage may be required to control bleeding and to hold topical medications in place, however medical bandages are generally unattractive. Another medical issue is that untreated nail fungus can spread by shedding invisible spores when a person removes shoes and socks or goes barefoot, especially in public areas such as locker rooms. Thus, covering the diseased nail could help prevent the spread of fungal disease.
Prior art discloses multiple ways to decorate finger or toe or both nails. In general, these are placed over an existing nail primarily to provide ornamentation to the nail without attempting to disguise the nail as a normal, healthy nail, or in the case of complete nail covers such as false nails, the cover is glued—typically permanently—to the real nail underneath. This exacerbates the problem for infected nails, and is totally unsuitable for growing nails and exposed nail beds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,983 (Wissman et al.: 1986) discloses a method of installing an artificial toe or finger nail at the site of a surgically removed natural nail. The disclosed invention requires preparing the exposed nail bed (12) before attaching the artificial nail by applying a separating agent and mass of plastic material. It can be seen that the Wissman et al. method is for surgically removed nails and requires medical supervision. It does not provide a simple self-applied cosmetic disguise of the affected digit to simulate a healthy nail, and it is difficult to apply and might interfere with healing if not done properly.
US Application 2005/0,010,146 (Levanon et al.: 2005) discloses a decorative bandage with an LED display, the display being for displaying a skin condition value. While hiding skin conditions, the Levanon adhesive bandage with display does not disguise a damaged or diseased or missing nail to give the appearance of a normal nail.
Prior art that hides a broken chipped nail, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,688,331 (Bogoslowsky et al.: 1949), generally specifies adhesion directly to the existing nail. It does not provide an easily applied cosmetic covering suitable for use on infected nails or exposed nail beds.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,889 (Stout et al.: 2003) discloses a gel dressing that can be used in the treatment of fungus-involved or discolored toe nails. The gel dressing, while protective of the damaged toe nail, does not cosmetically disguise the affected nail, especially if the nail is misshaped in any way. Such coatings are no more effective in hiding a nail than simply applying nail polish to the nail.
Thus, there is an unmet need for a simple means of cosmetically disguising a damaged, diseased, or missing nail while also avoiding discomfort and further damage in the affected area.